Contact
by latios-of-altomare
Summary: A journey of wonder, adventure, and selfdiscovery. Worlds are colliding, and members of two very different societies must unite to defeat the evil force behind it. Multi chapter. Official website appearing in the near future.


**Chapter One**

_Pikachu_

Pecha opened his eyes slowly and sleepily. Everything was as it should be, he observed; the pine-needles above him swayed in a cool, noiseless wind and the moonlight danced down from the canopy, cascading from needle to branch to needle before spilling into scattered puddles on the ground. The world was completely silent, and that was how it should be. And yet, something had awoken him. Presently, he was laying on his back with his tail folded down under him, and his gaze first fell upon the small patch of black that was the only bit of visible sky (the rest hidden above the thick pine canopy). The moon shone through a thin, wispy cloud that, as small as it was, blocked the stars from view suprisingly well. It was obviously very late, or rather, very early, for he caught the scent of the Cheri blossom on the wind, and he knew that these would only bloom in the earliest hours of the morning. Sometimes he would sneak away from home in the morning to find the flowers, because to smell one up close would eliminate fatigue and boost vitality- faster and more effectively than any energy drink. He found that it was often very hard to fall asleep after this.

But it wasn't the smell of flowers that had woken him. It wasn't the moonlight on his eyes or the Autumn breeze now quite sedatingly caressing the fur around his ears. So what had got him up? It was precisely to find the answer to this question that he slowly lifted his head above the velvety leaves that made up the nest in which he slept and peered around at his surroundings. There was nothing, really, to report- two familiar shapes, belonging to his mother and father, were positioned in adjacent nests on either side, sleeping as soundly as he had been a few moments ago. They were all surrounded by a circle of evergreens, which marked the boundary to their home, and the flooring consisted of a short, yet thick, bright green grass, interrupted here and there by toadstools and small, low lying plants. Everything seemed to be the same as when he had fallen asleep, and there didn't look to be any discordance at all, save the slight wind.

He was just going to sink back down in the nest and take to his slumber once more when he noticed a yellow glow illuminating his mother's silhouette to his right. He probably hadn't seen it before because his eyes hadn't adjusted to the dim moonlight, but it was definitely there now. Every second or so, it would become substantially brighter, and then return to its original shade. Pecha knew where this glow was coming from very well, but something was different about it than before. The light never used to undulate like that; it had always been a steady shimmer that wasn't really bright enough to wake one up. Deeming this worthy of investigation, Pecha rose to all fours and then stood up and then climbed over the side of the nest, stumbling a little in the process. He made almost no noise at all as he righted himself and began to walk around the yellow, breathing mass of fur that was his mother. The grass that covered the ground was cool and lush to the touch and felt very nice against the pads of his feet, and it rather seemed as if he was walking on the surface of an immense cloud because the density of the grass kept him from actually making contact with the ground.

Just past his mother's ears- which were so sensitive that they twitched even when he took a breath- Pecha could see the source of the glow. It was a spherical object, but oblongated towards the top, and a black zigzag wound its way around the center of its otherwise yellow outside. It had been placed very tenderly in its own special nest. Pecha had learned that this was called an egg, and that they were laid every Summer, but its purpose was unfathomable to him. It was small and light- he could've easily had picked it up had he wanted to. But he didn't want to. He wanted to watch. And there was much to watch and much to wonder about. The egg's glow was beating in regular intervals, just like a little heart, and each glow was a little brighter than the last. Each beat illuminated the earth, grass and trees directly around it and each was accompanied by a low humming sound. It was all very peculiar to Pecha and he sat and stared in utter awe at the strange egg, not knowing that the strangest part was yet to come.

For just when the glow would have become bright enough to illicit squinting, it died down to such a dim shade that he couldn't truly tell if it was there anymore. He thought for a moment that something was wrong with the egg, or that it had simply stopped for the night, but then it emitted a light so bright that it forced him to close his eyes and look away. A high pitched whistling sound rang from the egg as the light appeared, a sound that irritated his ears, which he abruptly covered with his hands. He had no quarrel with light- it was his friend and it helped him to see- but this light was so bright that it hurt to look at it, and when it and the whistling sound disappeared a half second later, it left spots in his eyes that obstructed, for a few seconds, his view of the egg, which had returned to the dim, unwavering shade it had been previous. He let out his breath (which he had been holding), expecting this fiasco to have reached its climax, but his expectations were shattered when it happened again. He wasn't sure if the light was brighter this time around because his eyes were shut tight again, but the sound was higher and more aggravating than before, and his ears rang for sometime afterwards. When the light dissipated this time, he kept his ears plugged and his eyes shut, attempting to head off another assault, but it never came.

It was a few seconds before Pecha could trust it enough to look at it again, and when he did, he saw that the egg had stopped glowing altogether. He could barely see now, the area being devoid of the light from the glow, so he allowed his eyes some time to readjust to the night before proceeding to creep towards the egg (he did so slowly and silently, crouched down and on all fours, which was a manuever one would use if one did not wish to be seen.) He rose when he was about four inches from the egg, at which point he leaned forward and sniffed- because there was always so much to be gained by using your nose- at the exterior and found it scentless, which was suprising to him because everything he had ever known had had its own smell, and yet this thing did not.

He was on the verge of becoming incredibly angry with the egg when something that frightened him quite a bit occured. It suddenly began to rattle with a great force, dislodging the nest it lay in. It made almost no noise at all, cushioned by the thick layer of leaves, but the sudden motion caused Pecha to jump back and his tail to prick up in a defensive position, and he held his breath in fear of provoking it further. He waited a short time for it to stop and then, when it didn't, he turned around to his mother, who had apparently slept through the painful whistlings the egg produced.

"Mom," he whispered at the stripes of brown fur on her back, though the word was a little strangled because he was breathing so fast. She didn't appear to stir, so Pecha moved round to her front, where her head was buried in her zig-zag shaped tail, which was wrapped snugly around the rest of her body. Her long, thin ears were at ease as if nothing was wrong, but they were still perceptve even during sleep.

"Mom," he said again, but it didn't work. He placed a hand on her side and shook her a little, but that didn't seem to work either. He tried tugging on her ears and even thought about nibbling her tail a little (though he decided that this might be just a litte impolite), but nothing woke her up. Impatient and desperate for her help- the egg's rattling had just intensified- he lowered his head and pressed one of the red circuar pads on his cheeks to hers. This seemed to work; there was a small buzzing sensation and then his mother let out a long breath.

"What is it?" she said sleepily, keeping her eyes closed. He failed to answer as he pulled away from her head, and his silence made her open one large, brown eye that surveyed him intently. The fear became apparent in his face almost at once to her, and she stood up hastily, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What is it, Pecha?" she asked, concernedly. He could only point, in response, to the quivering egg which- and he had just noticed this- had started to emit a pale blue glow. He really didn't know exactly what to say.

She spun round to face it and at once all the fatigue evaporated from her face. She scurried over to the egg, and Pecha followed as apprehensively as ever. He noticed that her eyes had lit up and she had started to breathe faster.

"What's wrong with it?" he said, clinging to her side and looking from her ecstatic face to the egg. She never answered, but she didn't have to. There was another tingling sensation in his cheeks, and suddenly his body exploded with a strange new emotion. It was wonder and anticipation and anxiety and happiness all at once; it made his fur shiver in excitement and his ears and tail became warm and jumped with each beat of his heart. He wanted the egg to hatch but he wanted it to take its time, and he wanted whatever lay inside to be alright. Such thoughts expanded in his mind, and yet they were not his and he understood little about them. "Mom, what's... what's happening to me?!" he cried between breaths. She smiled a smile that vanished almost at once, when she appeared to remember something.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, turning around to face the other lump of fur on the far side of Pecha's nest, "Liro! Liro, wake up!" Liro, his father, was a very heavy sleeper and did not wake up, so Pecha's mother threw a rock at him. Not a large one by any means, just one about the size of her hand and covered in moss so that it wouldn't really hurt, though she had mentioned later that in the energy of the moment, she might've thrown it a little too hard. The stone found its target with a thumping sound, and it quite effectively completed its task.

"What is it, Phelia?" he mumbled, raising a hand and massaging the impact site.

"Get over here!" Phelia, who had since turned back to the egg (the glow of which had started glowing brighter once more), replied, "You're not going to beleive this!" With much uneccesary stretching and yawning, Liro drew up to stand. When he turned around, though, he saw the egg and all the sleepiness disappeared at once.

"No way!" he said, running to Pecha's other side. "This early? Ha ha, won't this be a pleasant surprise for Riko."

"What's early?" Pecha asked. He was feeling a whole lot less scared now and a whole lot more spastically energized, and he couldn't help jumping when the egg jumped up about a foot and hovered, in midair, vibrating so fast that it appeared to spin. It gave off one final, blinding flash of blue, and then the shell melted away. It was as if it had been set to flame and, like paper, burnt away leaving only smolders that flew off in the breeze and a mishapen, gooey core that looked like it was made out of something you would never want to touch. Phelia leaned out and caught it, because as soon as the egg had vanished, whatever was inside had started to fall to the ground. She held it close to her and embraced it as Pecha and his father drew a few inches closer.

Pecha thought it was just about the most sickening thing he had ever seen. What it amounted to was a blob that appeared to be mostly yellow (it was hard to see now that the glow was gone), and it was excreting a slime that dripped onto everything around it. This goo not only looked strange, but it wasn't the nicest thing Pecha had ever smelt, either, and he felt compelled to ask what it was.

"What is tha-" he started to ask, but he stopped because his mother had done the last possible thing he would have done at that moment- she had bent her head down and started to lick the slime covering off of the object.

_What the?!_

"Mom, what are you doing?" he asked. It was half in surprise and half because he really wanted to know why; the events that had passed had caught his attention. In response, both she and his father (who had been looking on with a mesmerized expression) looked at him as if it was a completely out of line question, but then they recomposed themselves.

"I'm cleaning it," Phelia said, "If you were covered in this stuff, you'd probably want a bath as well, wouldn't you?"

"Okay, but... doesn't it... taste weird, though?" he said.

"You just hold your breath and swallow fast," she said. This made his father chuckle.

"Can you tell if it's a girl or a boy yet?" Liro said.

"I'll get there... mfh... when I get there," she said, through a mouthful of slime. His father sighed, while Pecha was just hit by a realization. That little ball of yellow looked a little like himself, just smaller and, well, gooey. And as his mind was forming a hunch, his eyes were confirming it. As more of the gelatious covering fell away (or was eaten), shapes popped out- angular ears, short arms and little feet and a patch of black fur that, even though it was still held in place, Pecha could tell was a tail. There were two cheeks, and a nose and a mouth, and even two little eyes (though they were closed). Sometimes he saw it move.

"Is that... a Pikachu?" he asked. Truth be told, the energizing feeling that had once enflamed his body was slipping away against his fascination for this new creature, and he was wishing in the back of his mind that he could return to sleep. What he would've done for a Cheri blossom just then.

"Close," said his mother, who seemed intent to clean every inch of this poor thing. Pecha was puzzled.

"It's a Pichu, just like you," said his father.

"What's the difference?" Pecha said, turning to him. Pecha had never really thought about it, but it seemed an obvious question now that he did. His father chuckled again.

"I'll tell you when you're older," he said.

"It's a boy," said his mother, quietly. She was holding what looked to be the finished product of the night's adventure out at arms length by its (or his, rather) armpits, and she couldn't have looked more pleased with her handiwork. The baby was definitely moving now (by means of flailing its arms around), and he was making movements with his mouth, as if he were trying to speak. He was really actually very cute, which Pecha didn't want to admit, made possible by the fact that he was now more furry than goopy, and that he was pitifully small, only about half the size Pecha was now. But his eyes were still closed.

"So, what do you think?" asked his father, pushing him closer. Both his and Pecha's mother's eyes were on him. "This is your new brother!"

Pecha was hesitant to answer- the baby still didn't smell very well. "It's... it's nice," he said as he took a halfstep back. In reality, though, he wasn't sure if it truly was a good thing, this "brother" person. He knew what brothers were; alot of pichu in the forest had older brothers, and they were best friends with thier younger siblings. But this was something new and he thought he had every right to be skeptical. He had no idea what kind of personality he would evolve, but he hoped he wouldn't be boring. Please, _please _don't be boring... Pecha wanted someone he could hang out with, someone who would enjoy getting into mischeif every bit as much as he did. Someone whom he could protect and not feel akward about it. It was funny- before the baby hatched, he had never wished for such things. These thoughts were swimming through his head when he heard his father's voice from farther away than he expected; he and Pecha's mother had withdrawn to a corner of the area.

"Alright, we'll do that," he was whispering to Phelia, who carried the baby in her arms. Then he turned to Pecha. "Hey, Pecha!"

"Yeah?"

"You need to get to bed- we're going to have a big day tomorrow."

"Really?" said Pecha inquistively, "What are we doing?"

"I guess we'll see tomorrow, won't we?" his father stated, drawing closer. "I wouldn't want to spoil any suprises. Now get to bed, come on."

"Why?" said Pecha stubbornly. He was feeling rebellious now because he was being left in the dark about the next day, even though he _was _really tired.

"Because," his father said, flatly, "you're a pichu. And pichu must listen to thier parents. You know why?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. A smile formed on his face as he anticipated his dad's next move.

"Because if they don't," he said, laughing, "they get hurt!" He made a playful leap at his son, who knew what was going to happen seconds before it did. Pecha jumped out of the way and bounded in the opposite direction. They chased eachother for only a few seconds before they had to stop- and Pecha's father saw that his strategy had been a success. Pecha, breathing hard and laughing at the same time, collapsed onto the bed of leaves that made his nest and curled up, using his tail to shield his arms and legs from the Autumn early morning chill. Above him appeared the face of his father, who smiled down on him with a twinkle in his eye.

"Good night, Pecha," he said kindly, at the same time lowering a cheek pad to touch one of his son's. Pecha felt that buzzing in his head again, but what followed this time was not fear and confusion, nor was it an energizing flow of excitement and hope. His entire body flushed with warmth and satisfaction, and an overall feeling of well being permeated through him. He was safe now, and nothing could hurt him. His life was secure now, and nothing could take that away. It is very calming, the absence of worry, and it was in this that he indulged. It drew him down into slumber, slowly setting him into the land of his dreams. His eyelids grew heavy and his breathing slowed down, and it was only a matter of seconds before he was fast asleep.

_Good night, daddy..._

---

Pecha felt pleasantly warm when he woke up, and to take full advantage of the morning, he uncurled and stretched out on his back, so that when he opened his eyes he stared straight up into the splatter sky between the trees, which was populated by not a single cloud. This was what he called his "thinking position", because for whatever reason it cleared up his mind and allowed him to, well, think. It was a good thing, to be able to think, because there was so little time to be used up thinking and so many things to think about. He usually thought the normal things, and he asked questions every little boy asks. Where did we come from? What are we meant to do here, or, more importantly, what am I supposed to do? Now, however, the events from earlier this morning came rushing back and provoked a new, hitherto unexplored school of thought.

_I have a brother..._

That was Pecha's first thought of the day. It was an interesting thought, because usually his first thought was _I'm hungry._ Watcing his new sibling hatch had left him hungry for answers to many an unanswered question, this much was certain- many an unanswered question that, until this morning, he would have never thought about asking. He had, over time, derived for himself the theory that things grew up- sprouts grew into berry bushes, which eventually dropped berries for him to eat. What he didn't eat fell to the ground and a new bush would grow. In the same way, he supposed, pichu grew into pikachu and, in some profound way, the berries were represented by hatchlings just like his new brother. Yes, he was most interested in watching him develop. But what did it all mean? How did all this baby brother business fit into the grand puzzle that was the world?

_And where do babies come from, anyway?_

Pecha thought like this for a short time before he became restless and stood and stretched his arms up to loosen the muscles inside them. It was looking to be a wondeful day and busy, if what his dad had said could be taken as truth.

"Pecha, you're awake!" his mother's voice said from behind him. She was nestled in her bed, and the baby was curled up beside her, its chest moving ever so slightly as it breathed. And its eyes were still closed.

"I am," he responded, turning around, "Where's Dad?"

"Oh, out serving breakfast," she said.

_What?! _Pecha whirled around to take another look at the sky above the forest and, sure enough, he could see the sun peeking just above the tops. He had slept in.

"Yeah," his mother laughed, "you slept in for quite a while. It was all your father and I could do to keep him-" she motioned with her head at the little pichu dozing by her stomach- "a secret from Riko until you woke up." Pecha suddenly realized what she had been building up to, and his heart gave a little jump of glee.

"You want me to go and tell him?" he asked.

"Him," she smiled a suprisingly sad smile, "and Kiri. I know how you love it there."

"And Kiri," he repeated. The place he was to go was the home of Elder Riko, the "leader" for all the pikachu in the forest. Riko didn't actually make rules or enforce them- this was a free world and who was he to say that you couldn't do whatever you wanted- but he did give advice, and it was only common sense for people to listen. If you asked him if you could play in the river- which Pecha would never do- he would say yes, but be sure not to drown yourself. He was popular with everyone because he was friendly with just the right amount of spunk. Pecha liked him especially, though, because he alone could tell stories and fables whose origins were unknown. Stories about a world in need, an evil presence consumed in darkness, and a hero who would save everyone and restore peace. He had always wished to be some sort of hero and save the world and become famous and have stories told everywhere about his noble deeds.

But who he liked more than either the Elder or his stories was the Elder's only daughter, Kiri, who was his bestest friend ever. She and her father lived in the beautiful Berry Orchards far to the East, separated from him only by a long stretch of grass, trees and sunlight. "Should I leave now, then?" he said.

"Yes, of course. Hurry back if you and your little girlfriend get hungry," his mother replied, with a flick of her tail to dismiss him. Pecha smiled, and then wiped his smile off his face when her words sunk in.

"She's _not _my girlfriend," he mumbled, stumbling past her and into the forest. The trees were thicker here but arranged haphazardly. Sunbeams streaked down from the canopy and illuminated the grass that went on for an unconcieveable distance in all directions, and flowers were everywhere you stepped. Pikachu could be seen sometimes as well, though most were pobably down by the giant lake that was the primary source of water for the entire forest. Most of the families had settled near the shore for easy access to water, and his family wasn't an exception. He didn't like this one bit. But presently he set his sights on the goal ahead, fell to all fours (he preferred this position for running; it was far more efficient) and stiffened as a primary jolt of energy rippled though his body, bent his head forward as he felt his face warm and his claws grip into the earth- and took off.

The wind was against him for the slightest amount of time, and then it conformed to his shape and flowed alongside him. His tail automatically leveled and stuck out straight behind him, which would both counteract the weight shifts he was making while running, keeping him in balance with little adjustments, and make him even more streamlined to maximize his speed. He knew where to go from memory, which meant that he could run at full speed and not worry about getting lost. Running was something he had always loved- the fresh wind pulling him along, any stress being wiped clean away as he forgot his troubles and was overcome by a feeling of incredible freedom. The tribal beat of his feet against the grass soon would lull him into a state of inner peace, and besides that, dodging trees when the slightest mistake could end your life at any second was just plain fun. And then there was the speed. He could run very fast, displacing a hundred feet in just a few seconds or so, and he often felt that he could run so much faster but he knew that it was unsafe to do so. He loved going this quickly, because it filled him up with a feeling that just made him want to open up and sing to the forest and the trees and all the little flowers; it was a strange and yet innate love of just _running_.

He ran past all of the little copses that made all of the pikachu's little homes. All around were pichu at play or dutiful fathers gathering large sticks to reinforce the homes from the winter storms or mothers gathering food for pichu who were too ill or injured to make it to the lake for breakfast. He ran past the scattered berry bushes that were smelling quite delicious right now, and he resented not having the time to stop a munch a Cheri or a Pecha. He ran past the water reserves- pools of water that were stored in stone basins and purified with certain herbs, and served as a liquid resource when the monsoon rains made the lake water unsafe to drink- which marked the boundary to the areas populated by any significant amount of pikachu. Soon after, he was in the thickest stretch of the forest and had to slow down at the risk of hitting the trees, which would more than likely be fatal.

In the absence of the sounds of daily work and play, he began to hear a sound from up ahead that filled him from the ears down with the utmost of dreadful feelings. His brain heard the noise and tried to tell his body to turn back, to go the other way, to avoid the danger- and for a moment, it was succeeding. His claws exended quite involuntarily, making his steps stick into the grass and causing him to fall off balance, but he convinced himself that he could make it and forced his body onward and, after a few torturous stumbles, he had arrived. He skidded to a halt- which was accompanied by a blast of the wind that had been trailing him as he ran- at the bank of a giant stream, blades of grass flying everywhere.

The crystal-blue water flowed past quietly and slowly, so clear that he could see straight to the bottom, which was only a few inches below the surface. This was what the pikachu called The River. It went in both directions, winding through the forest. One end brought freshwater into the lake, but no one had yet traced it to the other end. What Pecha was now trembling before was the thinnest, slowest, shallowest part that anyone knew of, and so it was the best place to cross, and the crossing itself was his least favorite part of the journey to the Elder's home, for he had a curious fear of water.

It wasn't a normal fear, either; pikachu are born natural swimmers, and all of his friends loved the water. But less than half a year ago, when Pecha was so little that he still had to have his food pre mashed for him, he had fallen in the same river while playing on the edge. He was carried far away, and he had tried to swim to shore but just couldn't- the current had been too strong. He had cried out for help over and over, but it seemed as if no one was able to hear him. After many minutes, he had drifted into a strange, shimmering pool of water where the current had stopped and he had sank- he had been too weak even to open his mouth again. And he would have drowned, ending his life then and there, had some dark shape not followed him down and dragged him back up and to his home, where it took weeks to fully recuperate. To this day, he knew not the identity of his savior, but he returned often to that shimmering lagoon even today in hopes that he or she or it would return.

That encounter had left a deep and painful impression on Pecha's subconscious. The fear at first left him paralyzed at even the sight of any body of water, unable to move and numb all over until he was brought to his senses. Because of it, he was often ridiculed by other, less nice pichu, and he hated it. It made him feel bad inside. So, he began his attempts to overcome it. It had taken months, but he was now to the point where he could look at a river or lake without flinching, and merely felt a bit nautious. He still couldn't control, however, what happened when he actually entered the water, which usually triggered a reation that essentialy caused him to thrash pointlessly in the water, perhaps in a futile attempt to get onto dry land. But he tried not to think about his problem as he presently prepared to jump in. He braced himself, took a big breath, and thrusted himself forward.

Brr, that water was cold! It was really no surprise, because it was early morning in mid-autumn, and Pecha couldn't have cared less about the temperature, because he had begun, expectedly, to flail. He flailed left and he flailed right (though he was doing his best to flail forward), and he stirred up a great deal of water as he flailed. The water was flung on his face, his tail, his underside. It got flung into his ears and his nose. One could say that the water was being flung everywhere and with it, the soil that covered the riverbed. He continued to flail for the entire sixty feet of the stream's expanse, though with all his weaving, he probably had managed to double that length. In the end, he was gasping on the wet bank opposite from where he had started, gasping for breath and dripping all over, his path of destruction settling back into the river. He looked back for a little while and then hung his head, ashamed of his actions. Why did this have to happen to him? What, exactly, had he done to deserve such a scar?

Suddenly, he heard a giggle from behind one of trees in front of him- for of course, the forest continued on past the river- so he assumed a more composed position, drawing up to a standing position and bringing his hand up to his chin to make it appear as if he were contemplating something. This guise might've been successful had he not had water cascading from his ears and tail. The giggler stepped out from the tree she was hiding behind, for Pecha could tell, even at a distance, that this was not another jeering pichu attempting to poke fun, but his best friend, Kiri. As she pranced over, he tried to rid himself of excess moisture by giving himself a quick shake.

"You know," she said, holding back for a second to avoid the water he was shaking, "that gets more fun to watch every time."

Pecha sighed. "You know I have a problem around water," he said. She drew even closer and planted one of her own cheek pads onto his, for this was how Pecha and Kiri (and all the other pikachu in the forest, he supposed) exchanged greetings. Pecha also took advantage of the connection to let Kiri know how he felt about what she had said. Kiri suddenly understood that Pecha was hurt when she made fun of something he couldn't control or explain and, when they drew apart, an expression of apology adorned her face.

"I know. I'm sorry," she said.

"That's okay," he said. They smiled at eachother. Kiri and Pecha had been introduced to eachother very early in thier lives, and they had been friends ever since that. They had a lot in common- they were born on the same day, and they both liked getting into trouble. She liked different kinds of food, though. And she could swim correctly.

Pecha had always admired her for being nice to just sit and look at, and this wasn't unjustified in the least. She had a naturally friendly face which was accented by bright, forest-green eyes (which made her unusual- most pichu and pikachu had brown eyes). Her coat was sleek and the black parts- on the tail, the tips of her ears and her chest, shimmered in the sun. But of course, as we all know, looks are not a suitable basis for friendship. Pecha hung around with Kiri mostly because she was kind and because of her intelligence and quick thinking. She was the one with whom Pecha could find solace for his secrets and fears, and many times she would confess to have the same, and they would work on them together. And, she was the one who Pecha went to to ask questions about the forest and the pikachu. Half the time, she wouldn't know the answers, but she always tried even if she had no idea what she was talking about.

"So, why where you waiting by the river?" Pecha asked. "I was going to go to the orchards to get you."

"I was on my to the lake," she said. Her stomach growled. "I'm hungry. I think the real question is, why were you coming to get me?" Pecha leaned his head forward. She raised an eyebrow.

"I need to tell Elder Riko about something... something that happened last night," he whispered.

"What happened last night?" she said, at the normal volume. This annoyed him a little, but he decided to keep whispering anyway.

"Well, my mom-" This is the beginning of what he was going to say, but he had to stop because somebody else spoke above him.

"Speak up, boy! I can't hear you properly!" it said. Pecha and Kiri craned thier necks up and saw that the owner of the voice was Riko himself, who was presently squatting on a branch of a pine that looked as if it was kind of thin.

"Hey look, Kiri, it's the Elder!" Pecha said.

"I know, thanks," replied Kiri. "Hey, dad, watcha doin' up there?"

"Keeping an eye on you. You know better than to sneak off from home on your own," Riko said. "And it's a good thing I did. You two are planning on pulling some sort of mischief today, aren't you? Because that's what it looks like!"

"Well, wouldn't you just like to know!" said Pecha loudly. Kiri bent forward again with a stern glare on her face.

"Pecha..." she whispered. Pecha lowered his head back down to face her. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm just having some fun with him," he whispered back, a little sheepish. But his heart raised when she looked up at that quivering branch and looked back with a sly smile on her face and winked.

"Aha!" the Elder exclaimed, "you winked! Kiri, you winked! All this winking and whispering... There is going to be serious consequences for you two if- don't turn away from me!" He said this because Pecha and Kiri had turned around to face the river, and it appeared as if they where whispering and laughing. This was, really, what was happening, except that the whispers were just gibberish (though Riko couldn't hear them anyway) and the laughter was simply influenced by the Elder's reaction.

"Pecha!" he cried, moving forward carefully on the branch as he spoke. "Kiri! Pecha!" But he had moved out too far. The branch, unable to support his weight any longer, swung down and around and hit the trunk of the tree, where he let go and slid to the base, yelling the whole way down as Pecha and Kiri watched. "Oomph!" is the sound Riko made when he hit the ground, and naturally they rushed over to confirm his well-being, though they doubted any injury. They were right.

"Dad, are you okay?" Kiri said, making her voice sound as sympathetic as possible. Her question, sincere or not, was answered by the way the Elder sprung to his feet, picking off bark shards from his fur. He immediately jumped towards Pecha, who jumped back.

"Pecha!" he said, "You have a secret! I _must _know what it is! Tell me, Pecha, tell me what you are hiding!" He shook Pecha a little.

"Okay," Pecha sighed, "It-" But Riko stopped him by putting a hand to his mouth.

"Wait, Pecha! Don't tell me!" he said dramatially. "You're planning to... pop some toadstools?" Pecha shook his head. "Hmm... were you going to... sneak into the orchards, perhaps?"

"It's not like that's forbidden," Pecha said.

"No, I suppose not," Riko said, scratching his head. "Well, I haven't a clue. Would you mind telling me why you came?"

"I was trying to do that. My mom wanted me to tell you guys that her egg hatched." Kiri and Riko jumped back in surprise.

"Your mom's egg hatched?!" Kiri yelled at him. Pecha wondered why she thought it was such a big event.

"Yeah, if you want to call it that!" he yelled right back at her.

"Pecha," said Riko, who suddenly seemed to be in a fluster, "you did well to come and tell me. I should go see the new baby- did your mother say where she could be found?" Pecha shook his head. "Ah, well... Come, let us proceed to the lake... you two must be starving... So little time... So soon..."

"Yay!" said Kiri, as she walked at a brisk pace down to the edge of the stream with him. She was about to jump in when she turned around and saw Pecha a few feet behind her, staring at the ground. Riko had seen him, too, and he sighed.

"Alright, Pecha, you can ride on this one," he said. Pecha's face brightened the littlest amount, and he walked forward and jumped onto the Elder's back, taking a seat by the base of the pikachu's tail (he was small enough compared to him that he could ride without causing pain). He nodded at Kiri and smiled and lurched forward as he was walked across the stream.

Everyone except for Pecha arrived on the other side at least partially wet. He swung his other leg over the Elder's side and hopped off, landing in one of the few patches of dirt that was not covered by grass. The Earth was soft and sank down with his feet as he turned around to take a last look at his nemesis, the clear waters that were flowing very slowly by. Just then, though, something in the river caught his eye and made him stare.

The water wasn't really clear anymore. Nor was it murky, as it should have been after something had been swimming in it. It was blue- it had a deep, tranquil blue tint that made the liquid seem magical. The surface gleamed in the sun as if it were made up of a hundred thousand sheets of glass. It was so mesmerizing that he started to forget about where he was supposed to be going- he just sat and stared.

"Pecha! Hurry up!" said someone behind him rashly. He knew that voice... He couldn't place it- had he forgotten?

"Hey, are you... are you all right?" Someone appeared at his side, looking at him concernedly. It was a girl pichu, one with well groomed fur and green eyes... _How pretty..._ Pecha thought, _but even she's nothing compared to this river..._

"Pecha, you're being wierd."

"Kiri, what's the holdup?"

"I think... I think something's wrong with Pecha!"

"What?"

"See, he just keeps staring at the river!"

"Hmm... I don't see anything strange about the river. Pecha!"

"Pecha, snap out of it!"

"Aw, sheesh. C'mon, Kiri, help me get him away from here."

"Okay... Ugh... Mph! Pecha, you're fat."

"Kiri!"

"What?"

He felt like he was floating away from his body. Above the river, two saps having a meaningless conversation, above the trees... He felt himself rising up, and up, and even higher still, until... Everything went black.

"Pecha! Pecha, can you hear me?"

"Here, scootch back, Kiri. Oh, I do wish you would have picked another day to fall ill." Pecha felt a splash of cold water against the fur on his face, and he slowly opened his eyes. Funny, he didn't remember falling asleep. He felt, actually, more awake than he had before, but he was still confused, and rightly so.

"What... where am I?" he said. His vision was blurry, and all he could see of Riko and Kiri were yellow- and- black blurs. "What happened?"

"You wouldn't stop staring at the river," said the Elder.

"You wouldn't listen to us, and when we pulled you away, you just blacked out," said Kiri, "and that was around half an hour ago."

"What happened? What did you see?" said Riko sternly.

"I..." Pecha said, "I remember the water turning very blue, and... it felt as if something was trying to come into my body..." He scratched his head as he searched for the best phrase. "And as if that something was pushing me out..."

"That's all you can remember?" Pecha nodded. "How very peculiar."

Kiri returned from what appeared to be deep thought. "Pecha, I don't remember the water being blue," she said, "at least not any more blue than it usually is." Pecha and the Elder looked up at her for a short time.

"Very well, then," Riko said, standing up, "we're extremely late- no doubt your mother will have our heads- but it's better to be late than never to arrive at all, right? Pecha, can you walk? At least to the lake?"

"Yeah," Pecha said, standing as well, "In fact, I feel great!" He did a little spin. Whatever had happened, it had roused a terrific energy inside him- energy that he was burning to use.

"Hey, Pecha! Betcha I can get there before you!" said Kiri, already in position.

"Don't count on it," Pecha said, bending down, "3.. 2.. 1.. GO!" Then they jolted, neck and neck, into the forest.

"Wait! No! Don't... run..." said the Elder, who was taken quite by surprise.

"See ya at the breakfast buffet, dad!" Kiri yelled back.

"Yeah, in like a month!" Pecha said, and they both laughed.

---

"I can't believe we were beaten here by the Elder." Pecha and Kiri had charged into the lakeside clearing only to find that Riko had somehow arrived before them- wheezing and expended, yes, but nonetheless present. They were presently standing in a line- a long, winding line of yellow and black fur leading up a shallow, grassy slope that stretched about a hundred yards from the edge of a huge, sparkling blue lake. At the end of this line, up where the grass met the trees, stood a big stone buffet that had been constructed long before anyone could remember. It was made with three large pieces of rock- two supporting base pieces that lifted the table about eight inches above the grass, and the tabletop piece which was some four feet wide. And behind this stone buffet stood Pecha's father, who was cooking. Liro was the democratically proclaimed "chef of the forest" because he could combine all different kinds of berries and season them with herbs and toast them in different ways and still make it taste good. He did this so well, and his dishes tasted so good, that in fact the entire population had become rather dependant on his service. The demand was, as a result, very large- as evidenced by the lengthy line- and it was a wonder to Pecha that his father could keep up with it single handedly.

The landscape was beautiful at this time of day. The grassy slope on which they were standing was dotted with pink and blue and purple wildflowers, and on either side of the slope were cliffs that jutted up about thirty feet and continued past the land just the right amount so as to give a great view of the lake and surrounding areas if one desired to make the trip up. The lake itself was massive (which is why Pecha stayed as far away from it as he possibly could), almost perfectly circular and about a mile across. The water was clear and deep and reflected the sky above it, which was presently super clear. All along the bank of the lake and all the way up the slope were families of pikachu- mothers, fathers, and girls and boys that were all about Pecha's age- that were indulging with apparent elation on thier faces Some parents were taking this opportunity to bathe thier children (oh, how he pitied them), and there were also just pichu who were toppling over eachother in a mock fight. Laughter and casual chatter filled the air. Pecha spotted the Elder who, after he had been able to gloat about his victory, had proceeded to look for Pecha's mother. He had found her on the edge of the lake, administering an actual bath to Pecha's brother, and had sat down out of sight and, unfortunately, out of earshot.

"Yeah, he can be a crafty one," Kiri responded, "You know, he's not as old as everyone thinks, either."

"How old is he?"

"I think he's six."

"Six... Six years? That seems old to me."

"We're only going to turn one in a few weeks. That's probably why." Six, now that he thought about it, really wasn't that old; there were pikachu in the forest easily in thier early thirties. After pikachu got to a certain age, he was told, they died, which was when they stopped being here anymore. No one Pecha had ever known had died, but he imagined that it must be awful for the ones that loved them. In any event, the line dragged on for several minutes, and Pecha knew that it was worth every minute of it. By now, he had learned that the best thing to do at such a dull time as this was to think. He thought about the water and he thought about the sky, and he thought about his brother. This situation was, perhaps, better than that which he had been thinking of that morning, because now he could ponder his mysteries together with Kiri.

"Hey Kiri," he said after the line had shortened some amount.

"Hm?" she said.

"What do you think was here before we were?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... You know, before there were pikachu here. Something had to be here before us."

"My dad says that we were always here, since the beginning of time," said Kiri, who was intrigued by the question. "Besides," she continued, "what else could there possibly be here- or anywhere- besides pikachu? What else could possibly exist?"

"Well, I always thought that we couldn't be the only things in the world. Do you think... that there's something more out there? What do you fancy is outside the forest?" Kiri cringed.

"If there is anything living anywhere else, it can't be that far from a pikachu. As for what's outside the forest, I only know about the stories dad told. Back when he was just a little kid, someone saw what was outside. Then he came back, and he was crazy and mumbling and they could never get him to talk about it." Pecha shuddered.

"Oh," he said quietly, "so that's why everyone is afraid to leave."

"I guess so."

Pecha glanced around at all the families laughing and having fun. He noticed that no one else had a baby brother.

_Ha!_

But something was still unclear to him about this whole thing. "Hey, Kiri," he asked, "where do brothers come from?"

"Same as you." When he stared at her blankly, she continued, "_From an egg_. You watched it hatch last night, didn't you?" she answered.

"This _morning_," he corrected her. Obviously though, his question hadn't been answered to his satisfacton. "So where do eggs come from?" he asked.

"I... I don't know, really," she replied, looking back at him. Pecha gasped in mock astonishment. "Well, don't think I haven't tried to figure it out, because I have. Dad just says 'Well, you'll see when you're older', and 'I'm still not going to tell you', and 'Stop asking me already.'" Those last parts she did while immitating the Elder's voice. Pecha laughed.

"Maybe _your _dad won't tell, but mine will, probably," he said. The line had moved so that they were within feet of the buffet, and the collaboration of scents from several variaties of roasting berry were making his mouth water. His father was whistling as he prepared the food and handed it to pichu and pikachu with smiling and eager faces on specially stiffened leaves. They were actually leaves from bushes that produced the oran berry- when you soaked these leaves and heated them, they expanded and hardened and were sanitary and enhanced favor.

"Hey, dad," he said as he and Kiri moved up to the table.

"Hey! What's up?" his father said, resting his arms on the stone. He wasn't going to rush Pecha to hurry his questions (as he usually would have), because there was no one left in line. He smiled at Kiri, and then looked back at his son expectedly.

"Where do babies come from?" Pecha asked. His father's face turned quite sympathetic at this point as he lowered his face to Pecha's.

"From eggs." he said, flatly.

"Told ya," Kiri whispered in Pecha's ear. He whapped her with his tail. Liro was holding his breath and hoping that the next obvious question, that he knew was inevitable, wouldn't be asked.

"I knew that already," he said, "but where do the eggs come from?" His father let out his breath and rolled his eyes.

"What?" said Pecha, recoiling a little and wondering if he had said something wrong.

"He was bound to ask you someday, Liro," laughed a voice behind him- it was a female he hadn't been acqainted with, who had planted herself, her husband, and two pichu near the buffet, "Don't tell me you weren't prepared for this!"

"No, no, I am," his father said, sheepishly drawing up. "I just didn't think it would happen this soon... I'm not sure I can explain this very well right now, Pecha."

"What's the big deal?" Pecha asked, "Why is everyone so afraid to talk about it? Is it something bad?" He placed his paws up on the stone top.

"No, it's not, it's just..." Liro said, looking hard into Pecha's inquisitive face.

"What?"

"Just..."

"Just what?!"

"Pecha!"

"Yes?"

"You know what? I'll tell you later. When you're older." He threw his hands off the table and spun around, seemingly to stare at the berries at his disposal, which were organized into twenty or so neat piles.

_...What?_

"WHAT?!" yelled Pecha, and Liro cringed. "Why can't you tell me _now_?"

"Pecha," Kiri said quietly, drawing forward passively. She had always reacted to such outbursts with a touching sensitivity. "Calm down, come on... Don't go all out of control..." Pecha was about to say something very unkind to her because he was very upset, but before he could open his mouth, he felt the flow of air around him change and a tendril of energy began to caress his subconscious, telling him to stop and think. He stopped being mad and he lowered his arms and, perhaps most of all, he wondered what was happening to make him so peaceful. The energy was coming from Kiri- he didn't know how he knew, but he did, and it was. But how did she do that? After just about two seconds, the energy released its hold and he sighed a long breath and looked gratefully at his friend. He was calm inside, and he could barely even remember why he had been angry.

"Thanks, Kiri," he said. "I needed that..."

"You're welcome," she said, apparently glad that Pecha had regained control over his temper, "although I'm not quite sure what it is you're thanking me for." She hit him playfully with one of her ears.

"Well," said Liro, turning around, "we cool...?"

"Yeah. Sorry for getting mad."

"Great!" he said, sounding very relieved. "So what are guys going to have today?" Pecha looked behind his father to the piles and piles of berries, of all different sizes and shapes and smells. Pecha berries were his undisputed favorite, which was uncanny because they were his namesake. These were rather large and when you bit into one, it exploded with a juice that was very sweet and filling. Or, he could have a dish prepred with the oran berry, which were usually meant for treating wounds but tasted great anyway. These were smaller, and were blue and oval-shaped, with a lot of black dots. He bypassed the nomel berry, whose yellow tanginess he found most unpleasant. Bluk berries, those were another option. These were black and segmented- you could pull one segment off at a time and eat it that way, or munch the whole thing in a few bites. There were just so many choies- what to pick, what to pick?

"C'mon, Pecha, I don't have all day," Liro said, sighing impatiently.

"Why, what do you have to do today?" he said, squinting one eye in suspiscion and cocking his head. He remembered that he had been told early this morning that today would be a big day, but he hadn't really pressed to find out what that would entail.

"Not what _I _have to do- what _we _have to do," he replied. "I didn't tell you last night?"

"You said you didn't want to spoil any secrets," Pecha said, shaking his head.

"Hey! Guess what?" Kiri suddenly broke in. She was pushing herself a couple of inches off of the ground by placing all of her weight on her hands and pushing those against the stone. Pecha and his father looked at her. "...I'm hungry," she said, in a quieter voice.

Pecha was speechless, but Liro spoke up right away. "Oh, Kiri, I'm sorry... Can't afford to get off track. Not today, eh?"

"Wait a minute! What about what we're doing?" Pecha said before Kiri could aswer. She looked scornfully at him.

"You know what, Pecha?" his father said, "Just be patient- Elder Riko will tell you, alright? Kiri, you wanted...?"

"But why not now?" Pecha said. Apparently, however, they had decided to ignore him, because Kiri had begun to place her order.

"Can I have that one thing... that one with the... the, uh, the... that one..." she mumbled. Pecha was almost sure that she was trying to say something. "The one you make with Nomel berries," she finished, looking a little ashamed. Liro chuckled.

"Alright, alright, I know what you're talking about," he said, and he turned around to begin his work. Kiri smiled appreciatively and Pecha, although he was annoyed, found it possible to enjoy the moment because the cooking process was just so fun to watch.

Extremely deftly and with much unnecessary flair, Liro flung three nomel berries out of their pile and onto the stone. Nomel berries were bright yellow- brighter than one's fur. They were oblongated, about the size of his hand, and tapered to a point at one end, while the other end, where it once had been attatched to a bush, was more rounded. The inside would be stringy with tiny packets of a liquid that was very, very sour. Pecha didn't like these at all and he looked reproachfully on those berries which Kiri called her favorite.

"You can eat three, can't you?" his father asked her.

"I can try," she replied happily. Liro nodded.

"Right. Here we go!" he said. He held out a hand for thier inspection (he liked to turn his cooking practices into some sort of magic show), raised it, and brought it down with a_ thud _on one of the yellow fruits, cutting it in half. No bruising, no juice splurting; clean in half. Pecha had asked several times how his dad could turn his hands into all purpose cutting machines, but had never gotten a response. In fact, pikachu could do whole lot of things he couldn't hold a candle to, and he didn't know why. Itwas another source of confusion for him. In the meantime, his father had diced the nomels into perfect bite-sized cubes (which meant that they were pretty small) and removed the skin, which he tossed aside. Then he clustered them all together, piled them onto an Oran plate that he had wisked out from under the table, and placed a hand right over them. His hand shook, the air around it distorted, and the pile suddenly mushed into a glob of the stuff, and in its implosion some had splattered on Kiri (who picked it off and licked it indulgently) and Pecha (who recoiled in displeasure). His hand remained above the plate and the nomel jelly at once became a darkest shade of yellow and began to boil and a wave of heat washed past them as the nomel's rich (and to Pecha, nasuseating) aroma wafted into the air. After a few seconds, he took his hand away- the air cooled- and inspected the squashed nomel, which had become a patty of berries, and juice was leaking out of it. He nodded admiringly, then dashed some herb unknown to Pecha, which he had crumpled in his other hand.

Then, he asked what Kiri wanted on it. Kiri knew exactly what she wanted on it. She had always wanted the same thing on it. So she told him what she wanted on it. If Pecha were his father, he probably would have gotten tired of her wanting the same thing over and over again. But Liro just chuckled and said, "Of course," and finished up making her meal. He placed the fillings on the nomel patty and folded it over and garnished it with the skins he had thrown aside earlier. As he handed it to her, her eyes lit up in a joyful sort of way, and she took the plate and its steaming contents right out of his hands.

"It's called a Nomel Omelette," he told her, "Try to remember it next time."

"I will," she replied happily, inhaling the fumes emanating from the food, "Thanks, Pecha's daddy!" She sniffed the air a little and turned to the southeast, towards where the cliff bordering the left side of the hill met the waters of the lake. "My dad and your mom are over there, by the edge of that cliff," she said to Pecha, "I'm gonna go over there to eat." Pecha felt the usual touch of fear in his gut, but he did his best to ignore it. "I'll see you there, okay?"

"...Okay..." Pecha answered weakly. This would mean getting closer to the water than he would have hoped to. She smiled at him, nodded at his father, and then turned and bounded down the shallow grassy slope in the direction she had indicated previously. She had to run on two legs (which Pecha knew was clumsy and uncomfortable) in order to properly hold the plate, which was roughly as big around as her own waist, and she looked rather funny doing it.

"Ah, nice gal, eh?" Liro said behind him.

"Yeah, I guess so." Pecha was, for the first time this morning, actually feeling a little empty in his stomach. "I'm hungry," he said.

"You are? Well then, tell me what you want and I'll make it for you."

"Okay, um..." Pecha said, proceeding to the chef's side of the table to scour through the many piles of berries as Liro rolled his eyes. "I'll have... no, not thaf," he said as his father pointed to a pile of large, pink pecha berries. "Let's see... Leppa, no... Bluk... hmm... no. Aha!" He ran over to the pile of small red, circular cheri berries. "Here we go, Cheri! ...no, Grepa... no, Oran... well you're running low on those, so... Pomeg... no..."

"Would you... you know... hurry up?" Liro said.

"Okay!" Pecha said, appearing to have come to a decision and turning around. "Right, dad, here's what I want: A Pecha patty with everything on it! But this time, no Nomel, and a light Oran syrup."

"What do you mean, 'this time'? That's exactly what you have for breakfast everyday!" his father exclaimed.

"Yeah," Pecha said, "I suppose it is." Liro rolled his eyes again. He sure did seem to like rolling his eyes a lot. After the brief time that it took to make it (as he had made it dozens of times before for his son, the production process had become streamlined and rapid), he held his arms out and Pecha took the plate, on which the steaming creation had been placed, out of his hands. The patty itself, which was as big as Kiri's had been, was a deep red color and a dark pink syrup seeped out of it. The topping, however, was less appetizing- at least to anyone but Pecha. It was basically gray and shapless and jiggly and oozing of many different juices, but as unattractive as it appeared, the combination of so many smells, some which tickled the nose, others that filled you up with contentment, was... interesting, if one had to say the least about it. He had come up with the "dish" when he was just about three months old, to the delight of his parents and to the mixed reactions of anyone who tried it.

"Awesome! Thanks, dad," he said, gleefully raising his nose to take in all of the different smells. "Can't beat perfection, can ya?"

"It would be very, very hard," his father said, laughing a little. There was a moment where neither of them said anything, and then Liro clapped his hands together. "Well," he said, walking to the front of the table and pushing against Pecha's back to go in the same direction, "you should probably go find your mother and the Elder, at least if you want to know what's going on."

"Okay, where are they?" Pecha said excitedy. Liro pointed to the spot Kiri had indicated earlier.

"Down there, right by where the cliffs meet the shore of the lake." As Pecha turned to look in that direction, his father noticed an expression of fright cross his visage as he stared out over the expanse of water. Sighing, he continued, "Want me to come with?" Pecha silently nodded. "Alright, then, come on." They walked together down across the grass, Pecha carrying his plateful of mystery foods and Liro walking close by, ready to offer support should his son's nerves fail him. As they weaved through the many eating pikachu and pichu and drew closer to the point at which he could now see his mom, the Elder, and Kiri sitting and sharing in what looked to be an interesting conversation, the latter turned round and waved and smiled. Pecha waved back, trying to ignore the feeling of light-headedness that grew in proportion to thier distance from the water.

At last, they appeared to have arrived at the edge of the lake, and the water splashed a little against the little wall of earth it was bound by. Kiri had turned back around and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her omelette, while the Elder appeared to have just finished talking with Pecha's mother, who had, in her lap, that baby brother, which looked to be wet all over (_Poor little thing_, thought Pecha). And its eyes were still closed.

"Hey, you two," she said, smiling up at them. Then she fixed a questioning glance on Liro. "What's up? Liro, have you stopped serving already?"

"Yeah..." he replied, stretching towards the sky. "The line really went quickly today." Pecha had, meanwhile, taken to sniffing at the slowly breathing mass of wet dozing by his mother's feet.

"Is sleeping all it does?" he said, backing away in reproachment. In truth, however, it didn't smell as poorly as before.

"Pecha!" she replied scoldingly, "Be repectful. _It_ is a _he_." Pecha proceeded to sit in the grass and mumble unintelligibly, trying to keep his eyes off of the lake which he knew could jump up and consume him at any moment. Liro sat as well. It was silent for a while- excluding conversation from everyone else on the hillside- before she spoke back up, and she had a concerned but thoughtful countenance when she did so. "But you know... he hasn't opened his eyes, not once, now that I contemplate on it."

"How odd," said the Elder.

"But didn't you just bathe him?" said Kiri, looking up from her omelette. "That should have woken him up. I know it wakes _me_ up."

"Well, that's what else is wierd," she said. "He seems to really enjoy the water, because he smiles and plays and splashes around - he got me all wet. But he still doesn't open his eyes. It seems like water gives him some sort of energy, just not enough to... fully wake up, you know?" She stroked the baby's head, and his ears popped around, as if they were searching for a certain sound that they longed to hear. "Sometimes I do worry if everyting's all right in there..."

"Phelia," the Elder said, suddenly rising and walking over to her side, "Don't get too worked up about this, okay? It's... unusual, but it's nothing we can't handle." He bent down to inspect the fur puff. "He's beautiful, though, you should be proud."

"Thank you, Riko." she said gratefully. Pecha had become quite hot in the face at the mention of his brother's outstanding prowess in the water. Then everyone felt warmer because the sun had started to rise above the trees on the east side of the lake, which was the side they were all on. For some reason, this got the Elder all in a fluster.

"Oh, my, I didn't realize it was this late!" he exclaimed, and he hopped away from her and the baby and looked very excited. "Phelia... You get some rest at home, no doubt you need it, but can I borrow Pecha for the day? This thing is going to be one whopper to set up, and no one expected it to start this soon..."

"Yes, of course," she said, and motioned for Pecha to follow him.

"See you two latter. Have fun!" said his father.

Pecha left his near-full plate of mush- he had only managed to nibble the pecha patty- with disdain but also with newly founded curiousity.

"What needs setting up?" he asked not angrily, running at first to catch up with the Elder, who had begun to walk briskly back into the forest. Kiri followed shortly behind.

"Why, it's the Festival of Life! Didn't your father tell you about this?" he said.

"No, he didn't. What's a festival?" asked Kiri. The Elder sneered in derisive disbelief.

"I can't believe it. Well, you two have a bit to learn, don't you?" They all laughed, and by now they had reached the shade of the pines. Pecha took one look back before following Kiri and her father into the trees, and he had to do a double take because he saw something that both won his interest and caused him a profound horror deep inside: his baby brother, a tiny yellow dot on the shore, was facing the lake, and all in front of the place where he sat, the water looked much bluer than it should have.


End file.
